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Czech Transition to and Backsliding from Democracy

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Czech Transition to and Backsliding from Democracy CZECH TRANSITION TO AND BACKSLIDING FROM DEMOCRACY: WILL “TRUTH PREVAIL” OVER THE ILLIBERAL CHALLENGE? Hana Svatošová Thesis Advisor: Prof. Doutor Marcos Farias Ferreira Dissertation Project Masters in the International Relations Lisbon 2020 Veritas vincit Seek the truth, hear the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, and defend the truth until death. – Jan Hus Democracy is not only a form of government, it is not only what is written in the Constitution; democracy is a perspective on life, it consists in the trust in people, in humanness and humanity, and there is no trust without love, no love without trust. I once said that democracy is a discussion. But true discussion is only possible, where people trust each other and honestly search for truth. Democracy, that is a conversation between equals, reflection of free citizens in front of the entire public. – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred. – Václav Havel 2 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Marcos Farias Ferreira, whose interactive cross-disciplinary classes on Russia motivated my choice of thesis topic and whose insightful reading recommendations and feedback helped me think beyond given theoretical and methodological concepts, and thus approach research in a more critical way. Next, I would like to acknowledge all my other teachers at ISCSP whose lectures also had a significant impact on my thesis, particularly Professor Andreia Soares e Castro’s classes on European Union, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy, and Professor Sandra Maria Rodrigues Balão’s Geopolitics class. Furthermore, I would like to thank my colleagues and friends from Lisbon, who accompanied and helped me on the International Relations journey, Julieta, Teo, Inês, Breno, and especially Pedro. Most of all, I need to thank my one-year old daughter Sofia and my dear Aurelio for putting up with me throughout this process. A huge thanks goes to the rest of my family; I could not have done it without your love and support. 3 ABSTRACT Democracy is in crisis around the world. Boosted by global phenomena such as globalization and the development of internet, along with a series of crises, which widened the gap between the elite and citizens, this trend was characterized by the rise of populism in both mature democracies and post-communist countries. The former model democratizers in Central- Eastern Europe turned into model democratic backsliders. The illiberal tendencies in the region have been generally judged by the Hungarian and Polish playbook. Although not as dramatically, also in Czech Republic democracy has been declining, mostly since the government of Andrej Babiš in 2017 and the reelection of Miloš Zeman president in 2018. This work examines the changes in the official post-1989 discourse through a two- dimensional discourse analysis, and thus explains what are the origins and character of the current democracy crisis, which arenas of democracy have been affected the most thus far, and finally if the “truth will prevail” over the illiberal challenge. Based on the theoretical concepts of democracy, transitology, democratic backsliding, populism and postfunctionalism, and an overview of historical-cultural context, we analyze the rhetorical strategies, domestic policy, and foreign policy dominant in the corpus of selected speeches of the Prime Minister and President. Next, we assess the impact of their new discourse on the arenas of democracy contrasting EIU’s Democracy Index and Freedom House’s Nations in Transit rankings. Overall, we sustain that the rise of the Czech illiberal populists has been rather a consequence than the origin of the current crisis, that the character of their new discourse is particular despite similarities with the backsliding neighbors, and finally, that there is hope for truth to prevail, consisting in a reform of certain arenas of the Czech democracy. Keywords: Czech Republic; transitology; postfunctionalism; democratic backsliding; populism; discourse analysis 4 RESUMO Democracia está em crise em todo o mundo. Reforçado pelos fenómenos globais como a globalização e o desenvolvimento da Internet, junto com uma série de crises, que aumentaram o fosso entre a elite e os cidadãos, esta dinâmica foi caraterizada pela ascensão de populismo em ambas democracias maduras e países pós-comunistas. Os antigos exemplos da democratização na Europa Central e de Leste tornaram-se exemplos de democratic backsliding. As tendências iliberais na região têm sido geralmente julgadas com base na cartilha húngara e polaca. Embora não tão dramaticamente, também a democracia na República Checa tem estado em declínio, sobretudo desde o início do governo de Andrej Babiš em 2017 e a reeleição presidencial de Miloš Zeman em 2018. Este trabalho examina as mudanças no discurso oficial pós-1989 através de uma análise de discurso de duas dimensões, e assim explica quais são as origens e o caráter da crise de democracia atual, quais arenas de democracia têm sido afetadas mais até agora, e finalmente se “a verdade prevalece” contra o desafio iliberal. Com base nos conceitos teóricos de democracia, transitologia, democratic backsliding, populismo e pósfuncionalismo, e um resumo do contexto histórico-cultural, analisamos as estratégias retóricas e as políticas doméstica e estrangeira dominantes no corpus de discursos selecionados do Primeiro-Ministro e do Presidente. Logo, avaliamos o impacto do seu novo discurso sobre as arenas de democracia contrastando os rankings do Índice de Democracia de EIU e de Nations in Transit de Freedom House. Contudo, defendemos que a ascensão dos populistas na República Checa tem sido uma consequência mais do que a origem da crise atual, que o caráter do seu novo discurso é particular apesar de semelhanças com os seus vizinhos em retrocesso, e finalmente que há esperança para a verdade prevalecer, consistindo numa reforma de certas arenas da democracia checa. Palavras-chave: República Checa; transitologia; pósfuncionalismo; democratic backsliding; populismo; análise de discurso 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANO – Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (Czech political movement) BIS – Security Information Service of the Czech Republic CEE – Central and Eastern Europe CEFC – China Energy Company Limited COVID-19 – coronavirus disease 2019 ČSSD – Czech Social Democratic Party (Czech political party) EIU – The Economist Intelligence Unit EU – European Union Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (Hungarian political party) GAL – Green, Alternative, Libertarian KSČM – Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO – Non-Governmental Organization ODS - Civic Democratic Party (Czech political party) OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PiS – Law and Justice (Polish political party) SPD – Freedom and Direct Democracy (Czech political movement) TAN – Traditionalist, Authoritarianist, Nationalist US – United States of America V4 – The Visegrád Group or Visegrád Four 6 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 9 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................... 12 2.1 The Concept of Democracy ............................................................................................ 12 2.2 The Transition Paradigm and its Critics .......................................................................... 14 2.3 Problems of Democracy .................................................................................................. 17 2.3.1 Democratic Backsliding .......................................................................................... 19 2.3.2 Populism .................................................................................................................. 21 2.4 Postfunctionalism ............................................................................................................ 24 3. METHODOLOGICAL OPTIONS ......................................................................................... 27 3.1 Research Theory.............................................................................................................. 27 3.2 Research Strategy ............................................................................................................ 29 4. EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION ........................................................................................... 32 4.1 Historical-Cultural Context ............................................................................................. 32 4.1.1 Czech Identity Post-1989: Totalitarian Legacies, Democratization and Havel ....... 32 4.1.2 Czech Identity Today: New Challenges and Threats, Zeman and Babiš ................ 35 4.2 New Official Discourse(s) ............................................................................................... 38 4.2.1 Rhetorical Strategies ................................................................................................ 38 4.2.2 Domestic Policy ....................................................................................................... 41 4.2.3 Foreign Policy ......................................................................................................... 46 4.3 Impact of the New Discourse on the Arenas of Democracy ........................................... 51 5. CONCLUSION: WILL “TRUTH PREVAIL” OVER
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